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FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu and Catalan defender Marc Bartra signed the deal in the club offices this Tuesday that will keep the centre-back at Barça till June 2017. The new deal includes a 25 million Euro get out clause.The 23-year-old Bartra joined FC Barcelona as an eleven-year-old and worked his way up through the academy and Barça B teams before signing a first team contract in the 2012/13 season.After putting pen to paper, the Catalan centre-back admitted: “I’m very happy. It’s a great feeling and I hope everything continues to go as well as they have done in my time at the club so far. For me, Piqué and Puyol are my reference points - it’s a challenge to me to achieve what they have . Establishing myself in the team is a big test, but I am getting there”

Marcel·lí Antúnez Roca, one of the founders of the Catalan theatrical group ‘La Fura dels Baus’ has presented an exhibition in Arts Santa Mònica, a cultural centre run by the Catalan Government in Barcelona's famous Les Rambles. The display showcases the artist’s unusual dramatic method, which he names ‘Sistematúrgia’. This concept conceives theatre as a combination of robotics, corporal interfaces and audiovisuals systems. Apart from the exhibition, which will be open to the public until April 4th, this initiative also includes live performances by Antúnez once a week. ‘La Fura dels Baus’ produced the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

According to a poll issued by the Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO), run by the Catalan Government, 59.7% of Catalans would agree with Catalonia becoming "a new European State". Specifically, 40.2% of the interviewees "totally agree" with the idea, 19.5% of the interviewees tend to agree, 10.8% tend to disagree and 18.9% are "totally against" it. Furthermore, 87.3% of the interviewees affirm they would accept the result of a self-determination referendum while 9.3% state they would not accept it. Furthermore, 74% of Catalans believe that the best way to decide on Catalonia's political future and its relationship with Spain is through a referendum, while 21.7% think the opposite.

Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic has installed the ‘Micra’ 24mm pacemaker - equivalent to the size of a one euro coin -  in 4 patients as part of a clinical trial involving 10 medical centres and 60 patients troughout the world. This innovative wireless system is minimally invasive since it does not require any surgical procedure but is implanted in the heart through the femoral vein using a catheter. Such a procedure can be performed within 30 minutes and also reduces the patients’ risks of future infections. According to the Medical Director of the Hospital, Josep Brugada, if the clinical study is successful, it will involve a “paradigm shift”. Experts estimate it could reach hospitals within the next two or three years.

From April 2014, thanks to an agreement signed with the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), the public body in charge of promoting Catalan culture abroad, the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) will offer a comprehensive course dedicated to the Catalan language and culture. The TUFS, one of the most prestigious institutions for language studies in Japan, will be the second university in the country to provide such training after the Hosei University - also in Tokyo - implemented a similar course in 2010. In the coming months, the TUFS will also host several events to strengthen the bonds between Catalonia and Japan, notably the symposium ‘Facts and fiction about independence, a plural view on Catalonia’.

With all tickets sold out months ahead, the audience which gathered Saturday in the Sadler 's Wells Theatre listened with much emotion to Barcelona Singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz and Guitarist Raül Fernández Miró, during the closing concert of the 11th Flamenco Festival London. The Catalan musicians have interpreted three Flamenco themes and performed songs from their latest album, still unnamed, which will also lead them to New York next week. The new album, the first common release after eight years of collaboration, includes songs in Catalan, French, English and German. The musicians will officially present it in a concert at the Tívoli theatre in Barcelona on the 25th of April.

The 16th International Festival of Short Films and Animation of Catalonia opened with a presentation led by director Roberto Barrueco. This year Barcelona’s festival received 5,300 projects from 110 different countries, of which 350 will be shown in 47 sessions and 80 hours of programming. Mecal is a festival held annually during the months of March or April in the Catalan capital. The festival is a review of short films and animations which takes place at different places in Barcelona, such as the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), the Institut Français, the Cinemes Girona movie theatre, l’Antic Teatre cafeteria, Arts Santa Monica cultural centre and the Fàbrica Moritz gastronomic space.

The Catalan President said that declaring independence unilaterally “is not the ideal scenario; neither the best nor the one that we want” but nonetheless refused to rule this option out. According to Mas, such a possibility should be considered if an agreement with Madrid for a referendum proves to be impossible and he is forced to call an early plebiscite-style election. “There is no way back”, said the President in a debate with citizens organised by the newspaper ‘El Periódico’. The leader of the opposition, Oriol Junqueras, who is an ally to Mas in the push for a self-determination vote, said that “the best” option is a referendum and therefore politicians should “not speculate with other scenarios”. However, he agreed with Mas in not ruling out a unilateral declaration in case negotiations with Spain were impossible. The co-leader of the Greens, Dolors Camats, said Catalans “do not understand” why Mas mentioned a unilateral declaration as this seems to suggest he does not longer believe a referendum or consultation is possible. The leader of the PP in Catalonia, Alicia Sánchez Camacho said Mas had “gone mad” while the socialists stated that considering a unilateral declaration was “a serious mistake”.

Messi (3), Alexis, Iniesta, Tello and Pedro on target for Martino's team. A week ahead of the trip to the Bernabeu, Barça put seven past Osasuna to build on the clear improvement they showed against Manchester City in midweek. With Leo Messi at his lethal best – the Argentinean scored another hat trick and became FC Barcelona’s all time leading scorer, passing Alcántara’s record – Martino’s side stormed to a seven goal thrashing and laid down a marker ahead of next week’s big game.

The Catalan Government announced that, if the Spanish Executive finally decides to recentralise Catalonia's own taxes, they will take the issue to the Constitutional Court. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, stated that, if confirmed, "it would be a very provocative proposal" and "would make totally transparent, if it is not already transparent by now, the recentralising assault and the policy to dismantle the [current] Autonomous Community model". On Thursday an expert committee handed a report to the Spanish Government suggesting 270 measures to completely reform Spain's taxation system. The text states that the Spanish Government will "order" all the taxes, including those of the Autonomous Communities. Regional governments might continue having their own taxes but market unity will be a higher priority and taxes will always be "coordinated" by the Spanish Finance Ministry.

Catalonia’s PortAventura and Ferrari have reached an agreement to build a new area dedicated to the illustrious sports cars, expanding the current amusement park. Thanks to an over €100 million investment, ‘Ferrari Land’ will open in 2016 with 75,000 m² at its disposal. Visitors will discover several attractions designed for fans of the Italian brand, including a vertical accelerator announced as the highest and fastest in Europe. ‘Ferrari Land’ will also host the first Ferrari themed hotel, which will offer 5-star accommodation in 250 rooms. The Italian company had already opened a dedicated theme park in Abu Dhabi named ‘Ferrari World’, which was met with much success among fans of the prancing horse. The new amusement facilities will be built next to 'BCN World', a $6 billion resort that will open next to PortAventura, with hotels, conference centres, casinos, theatres and golf courses.

The Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry has drafted a new report on the consequences of an independent Catalonia, which predicts a 20% drop of the Catalan GDP. According to ‘El Periódico’ newspaper, the document - which will be sent to embassies throughout the world - foresees a fall in exports towards Europe and Spain, a decrease in foreign investments, a flight of talent, less tourism revenues because of the “lack of a common currency”, and a soar in Catalan debt which would reach 78.4% of the Catalan GDP since it would have to assume 18.9% of the Spanish Government's debt. The Catalan Minister for the Presidency and Government Spokesperson, Francesc Homs, said the report was merely “speculative”, adding that the Spanish Ministry was actually “campaigning” against self-determination. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs has asked Catalan authorities to back such claims with “empirical evidence”.

E-commerce giant Amazon is studying the possibility of opening its first logistics centre in Catalonia, as advanced by some newspapers on Thursday. The new facilities could be located in El Prat de Llobregat, next to Barcelona's main airport. The centre could dispose of 210,000 m2 of work space and 151,000 m2 of land, making it larger than the Amazon centre in Madrid, according to ‘La Vanguardia’ newspaper. Works could start soon for the logistics centre to become operational by late 2015, with 3,000 employees expected to be hired. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, regretted this early announcement as the company has not reached a final decision yet. Puig regretted the “reckless” move by the Spanish Secretary for Trade for disclosing the news and added that Catalan authorities continued to “work discreetly” to attract investments from foreign multinationals.

Goals from Messi and Alves see off City and book Barça's place on the quarter finals.FC Barcelona laid down a marker for the rest of Europe on Wednesday evening, cruising through to the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Manchester City (4-1 on aggregate) with a performance that put to bed the doubts around the team after their weekend league defeat in Valladolid. Javier Mascherano insisted before the game that Barça weren’t down and out and tonight the team proved him right with an important win over one of the strongest teams left in the competition.

The Catalan Parliament held on Wednesday a monographic session on poverty, which has increased over the past few years, spurred by the financial crisis. According to a report published by the Red Cross this week, there are 200,000 families in Catalonia which live below the poverty line and since the crisis started, 88 Catalans a day have crossed such a line. With a population of some 7.5 million and a GDP per capita of around €28,000 (similar to the UK's) Catalonia posts a 22.3% unemployment rate and a 26.4% child poverty rate. Opposition parties asked for greater efforts and further measures to fight the poverty increase. The Catalan Government emphasised budget figures and detailed several actions in different areas to show they are tackling the issue. In this vein, the Executive criticised that child poverty stood at 22% in 2006, in prosperity years. Furthermore, they complained about the limited fiscal powers on taxation and public deficit, which seriously reduce spending possibilities.